MTG Cardsmith Community Forums
Bad Designs Challenge [Congrats(?) @shadow123]
"Rules and schools are tools for fools. I don't give two mules for rules."
-Constance Contraire, character in The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
You're scrolling through MTGCardsmith and you notice it: a card so repugnant to the rules of Magic that you just want it to disappear. Does whoever made that know how mana costs work? you think. Have they heard of the color pie? Do they even know how to play Magic, expletive? Of course, they might not. They might also be making cards for educational purposes, for a non-Magic game they're making, or just for fun, without regard for rules. But still.
Well, in this contest, we will be celebrating the worst of the worst. A few ground rules, though:
1. Only submit your cards. This contest is not meant to mock people.
2. Submissions don't have to be new - let's see how far you've come as a cardsmith!
3. Only one main submission per person. You can submit more than one card, but please select one to be judged.
4. All cards must be submitted by Friday, December 6.
-Constance Contraire, character in The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
You're scrolling through MTGCardsmith and you notice it: a card so repugnant to the rules of Magic that you just want it to disappear. Does whoever made that know how mana costs work? you think. Have they heard of the color pie? Do they even know how to play Magic, expletive? Of course, they might not. They might also be making cards for educational purposes, for a non-Magic game they're making, or just for fun, without regard for rules. But still.
Well, in this contest, we will be celebrating the worst of the worst. A few ground rules, though:
1. Only submit your cards. This contest is not meant to mock people.
2. Submissions don't have to be new - let's see how far you've come as a cardsmith!
3. Only one main submission per person. You can submit more than one card, but please select one to be judged.
4. All cards must be submitted by Friday, December 6.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/justice-of-faith
The 12 CMC is his Jersey number, also reflected in the P/T box!
Note: This is no longer the entry I want judged. Will come back at some point with a worse one
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/puppy-power-4
Looking back at this, I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a Cardsmith!!!
To the good ol’ days...
When our designs were s**t,
But now we’re decked out!
And this is what I call a failed gamemode idea.
Mary is overly complex and her mechanic is confusing. The X is a matter of cards drawn... this isn’t strictly my fault because it was for that mechanic thing in June, but I still hate how I used it and hated every minute of figuring her out as I made her.
Dreich Gloom is simply overpowered and way too depressing. Yes, it was symbolic of my depression, but it still is broken. Also any card that I started crying while making is not a good memory... (moving on)
It seemed like a good idea at the time, using both Dimir effects at once... I was wrong. This is way to complex and crammed.
Why did I make a caveatless 2/2 for 1? Why did I think that it made sense? And uncommon no less?!
Dunno what to say aside from bad design in general and “Why did I like having solids and hybrids together like that?!”
Broken color pie, iffy concept, blurry image.
I don’t even know.... I’ve purged those memories...
Bad concept given worse execution.
I’ll let my first card speak for itself.
Soft removal I made that makes me uncomfortable
@Je_Suis_Oluwa I will post some of my old monstrosities, but for now, MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/morthose-haulding-wanted
Good try, bad result. Really messed the cost, power level, and everything else, like color pie.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/escher-stairs
Umm... What can I say except that I was kind of confuzzled at the time?
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/drewan-wild-kings-beta
I knew what I wanted... I didn't really think about it in game terms or power level again.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/elder-sage
Did I really make a constant counterspell creature? That had hexproof? That is op.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/going-berserk
Just... too cheap.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/otherwise-occupied
Could actually be a decent card. If I had done anything that made sense with it. Like, not try to make it reflect pregnancy without doing any research, making pregnant women seem weak, and being totally absurd.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/dirmea-lady-of-the-waves
No starting loyalty
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/bringing-up-the-pack
Great concept. Could have been done much better. Shouldn't have tried to steal Amass
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/he-who-hungers-for-the-stars
*winces* for a bad card challenge
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/fever-dream-2
and another one. Did I really say "sammich"?
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/the-fountain-2
…
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/time-melts
What have I done!!!
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/seal-of-analysis
Another fricken infinite counterspell thing. For even less.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/safe-haven-8
An op land that literally makes you have mana enough to do anything.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/choice-of-counters
Way. Too. Cheap.
This has been "The worst of my carreer that I didn't delete" with Drake Gladis. Please feel free to point out the worst errors in the group, along with the ones that you didn't think were so bad.
Do you want the silly ones or my truly awful mistakes? That will change my entry. I actually just wanted feedback at first, forgetting this was a contest.
https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/fever-dream-2
@Tomigon - Foegod, Master of Iron
@Corwinnn - Patrick Marleau
@Tommia - Saving a Realm
@Lujikul - Jahile Fate-Maker
@MonkeyPirate2002 - Drone Factory
@EnvyReaper - Deteriorate Soul
@DrakeGladis - Fever Dream
@TigerFang8 - I can't see the image of your submission. Can you resend it?
@Ranshi,@Vert - Which is your official submission? I'm not sure why I didn't contact you both earlier about this, even when I did contact DrakeGladis. Sorry.
@Tomigon - Foegod, Master of Iron
@Corwinnn - Patrick Marleau
@Tommia - Saving a Realm
@Lujikul - Jahile Fate-Maker
@MonkeyPirate2002 - Drone Factory
@EnvyReaper - Deteriorate Soul
@DrakeGladis - Fever Dream
@Ranshi - Saint of Giving
@Vert - Alkyrn, Herald of Destruction
@shadow123 - Puppy Power.
To help narrow down the field, I used a simple test: is this a good design in any way?
Oh- and before we start, your cards all sucked...
MHOD. @Tommia - Saving a Realm
Yes, it has decent templating. It feels like it would play badly but I can see what you were going for. Which is not the case for many of these.
MHOD. @Lujikul - Jahile Fate-Maker
Yes, same as with Saving a Realm. (This card I hate though because it literally doesn't matter what X is in terms of your chances to win. Also this is overpowered since you can turn losing games into 50-50 games and just wouldn't play this in winning games. Or with Krark's Thumb it's an easy combo that wins 3/4 of the time.)
MHOD. @EnvyReaper - Deteriorate Soul
Yes, I'm not even sure why it's in this challenge. It's a nice card.
MHOD. @Vert - Alkyrn, Herald of Destruction
Yes, I actually like this card. It's expensive enough that it's not as overpowered as you think it is.
MHOD. @Corwinnn - Patrick Marleau
Yes, to inform about Patrick Marleau. It's a bit of a stretch, I know. It's horrifically bad, just not super horrifically bad.
5. @Tomigon - Foegod, Master of Iron
Ew. The mix of mana symbols in the mana cost is ridiculous. I sort of understand what these abilities are supposed to do, but they don't work...
Also, congrats on the feature! (Read the card comments if you don't know what I'm talking about.)
4. @DrakeGladis - Fever Dream
I'm *really* hoping this wasn't an honest mistake. It feels like it wasn't. It's an elegant bad design, as far as bad designs go - I haven't decided in my head if that makes this an instant winner or instant loser. Compromise: it's getting fourth place.
3. @MonkeyPirate2002 - Drone Factory
This is such a horrible idea I can't believe it ever even existed. Why would you decrease variance like that and make all the games have a Drone Factory, to begin with? Why is the text so freaking small, also? I think there's more at the bottom as well.
2. @Ranshi - Saint of Giving
Cleanup on aisle five! Mana cost is absurd. What's the X for? This is just a pile of ridiculous abilities! Subtype doesn't work. This is the opposite of a work of art.
1. @shadow123 - Puppy Power
This just doesn't work at all in any way period.
One more thing - this challenge marks my (soft) departure from Cardsmith. I just haven't had as much desire to do it as I used to. Doesn't mean I won't enter contests or check back in from time to time, just means I won't have it bookmarked and any notifications to me may not be checked speedily.
In any case, reverse congratulations, top 5.
PS: When I was adding the links, I was shocked at how some of these cards have multiple favorites. I'm legitimately unsure what was going on. (I get what happened with Foegod. Not the others, though.)